Second Guessing
by tromana
Summary: Jane’s being particularly quiet. Lisbon can’t help but wonder why. Jisbon.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Second-Guessing  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters:** Jane/Lisbon, Team  
**Spoilers: **Up to 1.20  
**Summary:** Jane's being particularly quiet. Lisbon can't help but wonder why.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Mentalist. I'm just playing

**Second-Guessing**

Agent Teresa Lisbon does not believe in wishing. It's a waste of time and often leads to false hopes and dreams of things you can never have. She also doesn't care much for destiny, apart from the fact that you make your own. To succeed you had to work hard, always try your best and never give up.

What she doesn't like is when she falls into the trap of dreaming of a life she'll never have. Especially when she's not particularly sure if she wants it at all.

It was all Patrick Jane's fault. That arrogant, capricious consultant who was making his way across the bull-ring, towards her office. As usual, he appeared not to have a care in the world, but really she knew he was simmering. About to explode. And if she, or anyone else on the team for that matter, got between him and Red John, well, who knew what would happen?

He caught her glance and broke out into a cheeky grin. It's warm, and seemingly genuine as ever. Jane held up one of the coffee cups, indicating that, as usual, he'd brought Lisbon one too. She returned the smile, briefly before turning on her heels and heading towards her office.

Lisbon's office should be a respite, the dignity offered to the boss of the unit, rather than sharing the bullring with the rest of her team. However, with Jane, who didn't seem to believe in boundaries, or rules for that matter, it was more a case of waiting for the inevitable distraction than a quiet place to focus on the task in hand.

He wandered in straight after her, and placed the coffee firmly on her desk. Despite his bright expression, Jane appeared to be in a quiet mood. To the extent that it looked like he was going to leave without a word. She frowned as he left; there was something going on with that man and Teresa Lisbon did not like it.

Lisbon loves her job, but hates it. She loves her team, the sense of justice, essentially knowing she is not only doing good, but she is good at it. And as much as Lisbon tries to deny it, she loves the variety - and the thrill of the chase. She hates the fact she has to rely on people doing evil things for her to get an income. She hates that Jane has her questioning her every motive, every thought, to the extent she is beginning to get tired of trying not only to second-guess him, but herself too.

Minelli called, and after a quick scan through the file she was out in the bullring, her beloved team staring up at her expectantly. The case sounded particularly gruesome, a pregnant woman found stabbed to death in a supermarket. She flashed a concerned look at Jane before she explained the details. If a family was involved, she always worried about the repercussions it would have on Jane, albeit, usually unnecessarily so.

Van Pelt grudgingly agreed to stay back. She knew that despite the fact she had been on the team for even longer than Jane had, she was still viewed as the rookie, the new girl. Lisbon flashed her a grateful smile as they left the office and headed towards her SUV. She was partially tempted to offer him the keys, but soon dismissed the thought. Whilst he treated his contraption with due care and respect, when it came to her car, he always pushed it to the limits.

"You okay?"

Jane smiled and nodded as he fastened his seatbelt whilst his boss watched his every move. She held her tongue as she noticed a small detail. His non-descript wedding band was missing from the ring finger on his left hand. Suddenly, her heart had metaphorically leapt from her chest cavity into her throat. Lisbon shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts as they exited the car park. At least now she had a road to concentrate on, and could put all thoughts of Jane, her vague daydreams about romance and bloody wishing out of her mind.

"I know you've noticed," Jane announced quite suddenly. "Despite the fact you should be concentrating on the road, you keep making furtive glances whenever it's safe enough. Just to double check that you're not hallucinating, I imagine."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Okay, why's it gone, then?"

"Everyone has to move on at some point."

"And what of Red John?"

They fell into silence once more, with Lisbon cursing herself for even bringing him up. It was Jane's fault anyway, he was the one who'd brought up the wedding ring. He knew she'd just have to question him about it. It was not only part of her job to seek out truth, but her very nature. They remained in the tense environment until they reached the crime scene. Once there, Jane leapt out and opened the door for her and she clambered out. He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders, which she quickly shrugged off, whilst staring at him, thoroughly bemused.

"I know I can't find him on my own," he whispered into her ear.

"We'll catch him," Lisbon muttered, squeezing his hand in response as Rigsby and Cho pulled up. "That's what we're here for."

"I know."

"The task in hand?"

She nodded. "The task in hand."

Lisbon proudly lead her team towards the site, through the crowd of civilians who had gathered interested in what had happened. She couldn't help but think about what Jane had meant about 'moving on' or if she was simply trying to second-guess so far that she would just fall flat on her face.

**end**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I've had several requests to continue this. I back down to peer-pressure way, way to easily. Enjoy.

**Part Two**

It had been a big decision to finally remove the band from his finger. And Patrick Jane still felt as though he was betraying his wife. It hadn't helped that Lisbon had appeared so nonplussed by it. She'd just nodded and they worked on the case. They'd taken a couple in for questioning - it appeared they were meant to be adopting the unborn child but the woman, Heather Grayson, had pulled out. Lisbon, naturally had been keen on the lead, but Jane was more interested in the girl's father. Normally, once home, he would try to keep his mind preoccupied with cases or ways to freak Lisbon out.

Not tonight.

He crouched in front of his sparse desk, incessantly spinning the ring. Watching it make perfect rotations before slowing into a less elegant pathway, then slowing to a sudden halt. Again and again he lifted his finger to allow it to continue it's dance.

Growing bored, he scooped it up, placed it in his waistcoat pocket and headed over to his bedroom. Or rather, the room where he lost his life.

Now he had a slight chance to rebuild again, to live for something other than vengeance again. The team were more than just colleagues, they were his friends. Good ones, at that. And as for Lisbon, he'd hoped there could be something more, if only he could trust himself not to be putting her directly in Red John's line of fire.

As usual, he slept little and dreamt even less. The few he had consisted of the night he had returned home to find his wife and daughter slaughtered. Only instead of them, Teresa Lisbon was the one laying fragile and broken; a complete contrast to the dynamic little firecracker he knew her to be.

He was second in the office that morning, only to her. She had been pottering around the kitchen and automatically handed him a cup of tea in his favourite cup and saucer. He smiled and inhaled the aroma. There was something about tea that always tasted nicer when someone else made it for you. Especially if that someone was an overprotective woman who wasn't all that forthcoming on emotional gestures.

"Good night?"Lisbon ignored his inquiry, but smiled as turned to face him anyway. The look turned to mild disgust as she saw the puffiness around his eyes and just how withdrawn he looked.

"God, Jane, you look like you ran a marathon last night," she muttered. "Did you get _any_ sleep at all?"

"A little."His reply was honest; he just neglected to inform her that what little sleep he had had was plagued by images of her dead, over and over. As she left, he followed her to her office, knowing full well it was that kind of action that really annoyed her. Besides, it was only 7 am and the rest of the team usually didn't arrive until 9, unless specially requested. And Jane was feeling particularly bored.

He sat on her desk and watched as she pottered around, picking up files, signing the odd piece of paperwork and tutting and sighing every time Jane managed to somehow get in the way. Jane liked watching Lisbon work; he found it particularly interesting how such a voraciously intelligent woman could find sticking to the book so fulfilling. She glanced up at Jane from the file she'd been working on. That case had been solved particularly quickly, in less than a day. It was close to a record by there standards, and she'd been particularly proud of her team.

"You're unusually quiet," she offered as way of starting conversation.

He shrugged and continued staring intently at her. She squirmed, feeling as if his eyes were boring into her soul. Patrick Jane often seemed to have that effect.

"Normally you're talking mindlessly, spouting off theories by now," she announced. "So come on, spill. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know I'm no _psychic_," she taunted him gently. "But even I can tell when there's something wrong, Jane."

Rigsby making his grand appearance provided Jane with blessed relief from Lisbon's questioning. He knew that they all thought Cho was the best at grilling suspects, but my God, she was good too. But then again, to be where she was, she had to be. At this moment, Jane didn't care that Rigsby wasn't particularly a morning person. The moment she started questioning him, he could feel the atmosphere envelop him, thick enough to cut with a knife, figuratively speaking.

His wedding ring was still in his waistcoat pocket. Jane fumbled with it gently as he observed Rigsby slowly transform from slow and lumbering to something more animated as he consumed more coffee, and especially so when Van Pelt arrived.

Once Cho had arrived, Lisbon emerged from her office, having already completed a good 2 hours solid work. For what was quite possibly the first time since he started with the Serious Crimes Unit at the CBI, he couldn't quite meet her fiery gaze.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and all that. I hope the final part lives up to your expectations. x tromana

**Part Three**

Turned out, as usual, Jane's hunch about the father was correct. The next morning, Cho had quickly managed to wheedle a confession out of him, using Jane's research into the man's other children and their relationship with their father. It was all to do with the fact that Heather's father had been habitually abusing her, then blaming her for the pregnancy. The prospective adoptive parents were just unlucky in the fact that they looked guilty due to having the perfect motive.

"I'm very sorry for any undue stress we may have caused you," Lisbon spoke to them honestly, yet with quiet authority.

"We were just glad to be of service."

The man takes slightly too long to pat his wife 'affectionately' on the hand, and there's something unsentimental and forced about it. He was obviously cheating, probably to vent his frustration about childlessness. Jane smirked and waved goodbye as they left the office. Besides, Rigsby had just arrived with closed case pizza. He'd made the mistake of letting Van Pelt choose their treat last time and had been horrified when she'd turned up with 'closed case strawberries'.

The pizza wasn't what interested Jane. Sure, he took a slice gratefully but he headed straight towards Lisbon's office, as usual. She would soon be busy filling in reports in triplicate and whenever she had paperwork to do, she hated being disturbed. Besides, he could always use the excuse that she hadn't started it yet, as she sauntered in having said goodbye to their original suspects.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to see you, obviously."

"Why? Having second thoughts about the case?" she enquired. "We got the confession, Jane. You did good."

"_We_ did good," he corrected her, automatically.

"What's wrong?" she persevered with him, not entirely sure why she was bothering. "You've seemed so… different throughout this case."

Lisbon sighed when Jane refused to answer despite the fact he claimed he'd come into her office for 'a chat'. She, for one, was getting sick and tired of all the mixed signals and never knowing if she was coming or going. Strange that the rest of the team hadn't appeared to notice Jane's antsy mood over the past few days. Maybe he was just being kind and reserving that treatment for her? That wouldn't surprise her, to be entirely honest.

It wasn't until later and she had forcibly sent Jane home that she absent-mindedly come across Jane's file. When she'd found out he'd been assigned to her team, she'd spent two months continually poring over, trying desperately to discover a tenuous reason why a supposedly 'psychic but not' consultant should not be allowed to interfere with the SCU. That felt like a lifetime ago - Jane now felt like a piece of the furniture. She opened it, skimmed through it simply because it was in her hands, before mentally slapping her forehead. How could she have _forgotten_ a detail like that?

Two days later, the state of California was unusually quiet. Normally, they were inundated with prospective cases for them to cover. It was typical. Now they were available, the crime scene seemed to have died away. Jane was desperate for something to do, Rigsby and Van Pelt were obviously getting bored. Cho, however, was quite happy with his nose stuck in a book. Lisbon observed that she was beginning to run short of paperwork, which was saying something.

"Jane," she barked and his head snapped up from the sudoku he was completing. "My office. Now."

He pulled a confused face at the rest of the team, and only Van Pelt returned a non-committal shrug. Jane sauntered into his office, initially wondering exactly what he was in trouble for. He hadn't attempted to hypnotise anyone lately, if anything by her standards, he must have been good as gold.

"Ah," he muttered as he saw the smirk on her face. "Alright, Lisbon. What have you got planned?"

Still smirking, she handed over a small green gift bag, with a shiny ribbon stuck to it. Confused, he took it anyway and stared intently at his boss. One of the few people with the ability to rein him in. He was thankful for that.

"It's not my birthday, and certainly not Christmas," he theorised out loud. "What's going on?"

"Just open it," Lisbon assured him.

"But…"

"That's an order, Jane."

A jewellery box had been nestled inside the bag, along with some rather pointless strips of decorative green paper. It was typical of women to use additional, unnecessary packaging, but then again he still couldn't figure out why she was adorning him with gifts in the first place. He opened it to find a non-descript gold chain. Gently, he lifted it out and let the fine links run over his fingertips.

"I know that it's been…"

"Yeah," he acknowledged.

"You don't have to take such a massive step in one go," she continued, gaining confidence. "I thought you could wear your ring on the chain."

"That's really sweet of you, Lisbon. Thank you."

Before unfastening it and slipping the wedding band on the chain and around his neck, he threw his arms around her affectionately. He didn't ask how she'd figured out why he'd been so maudlin, she deserved this one, after all. And just maybe, someday…

end


End file.
